The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:

The Times leads with a report about how four medical consultants were appointed last year without being qualified for the posts. The selection board disclaimed responsibility.

The Malta Independent says Spain’s borrowing rates hit a record yesterday as the Euro crisis deepened.

In-Nazzjon leads with the new Micro Guarantee scheme offered by the government to help SMEs.

l-orizzont says the Labour Party has accused a Finance Ministry official of pressuring Wastserv auditors.

The overseas press

There has been world-wide condemnation of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad after Syrian officials threatened to use the stockpile of chemical weapons, that Syria has now admitted possessing, in the event of an outside attack. The New York Times quotes UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon saying that any thought of using chemical weapons would be "reprehensible". L’Echo says EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels said they were "seriously concerned about the potential use of chemical weapons in Syria". And The Washington Times quotes President Barack Obama warning President Assad he would be making a “tragic mistake” if he used chemical weapons. Obama warned the Syrian leader he would be held accountable if they were used.

The BBC says the sharp international response came hours after Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi gave Damascus's first implicit acknowledgement that a chemical weapons stockpile existed. The weapons were safely stored, he said, and Syria would never use them against its civilians but only "in case of external aggression".

The Global Post reports that with fighting continuing between government forces and rebels in several parts of the country, aid agencies say they had been a sharp rise in humanitarian needs inside and outside Syria. According to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, an estimated 1.5 million people are homeless within the country while 115,000 Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has announced another €20 million for medical care, shelter, food and water. Cypriot and EU officials have drafted plans for a large-scale evacuation of EU nationals from Syria as a "worst-case scenario".

Al Sumaria says Iraq has suffered its deadliest day in more than two years, with more than 100 people killed in attacks across the country. Al Qaeda in Iraq is suspected of carrying out the strikes, which killed at least 106 people in at least 15 cities. Police check points were hit by car bombs and army bases by mortar fire.

USA Today reports that the suspect at the shooting at a cinema in Colorado last week has appeared in court for the first time. His hair dyed bright orange, James Holmes, sat wide-eyed and appeared dazed as the judge in Denver advised him of his legal rights. The court heard he would be formally charged next Monday with the murders of 12 people at the film premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises”. The 24-year-old former graduate student is refusing to cooperate with police, and it could take months to learn what prompted Friday’s attack on moviegoers at the midnight screening. He most likely would undergo psychological tests after appearing confused in court.

Fox News announces the death of Sally Ride, the first American woman to make a space flight. She died of pancreatic cancer at 61. After graduating as a physicist, Ride went into space on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 when she was 32. After her flight, more than 42 other American women flew in space. President Obama described her as a national hero and a powerful role model.

AFP reports South Sudan has offered neighbouring Sudan more than three billion dollars to compensate for economic losses caused by the South’s independence. It also proposed an increased transit fee to move oil through Sudan. However, Sudan was reported to have refused the offer.

ABC News says the US sports regulator, NCAA, dealt a heavy blow to Penn State football concealing sex-abuse allegations against a former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky. The university agreed to an unprecedented $60 million fine, a four-year ban from postseason play and a cut in the number of football scholarships it can award. The NCAA also erased 14 years of victories, wiping out 111 of Paterno's wins and stripping him of his standing as the most successful coach in the history of big-time college football. NCAA President Mark Emmert declared that football would “never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people".

Reuters reports a man jumped off London's historic Tower Bridge during a protest by taxi drivers against London's Olympic traffic lanes. Police pulled the man from the water under the landmark bridge and arrested him on a public order offence. The man had been taking part in a protest by taxi drivers, angry over a decision to ban them from the Olympic lanes which are reserved Olympic athletes, officials and sponsors. The drivers are worried that they will be stuck in congestion and will lose money during the Games.

 

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